By Staff, Alliance Defending Freedom
WASHINGTON – Dr. Everett Piper, the president of an Oklahoma university that is challenging the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate and its religious non-profit compliance mechanism at the U.S. Supreme Court, will be the guest of Sen. James Lankford at President Obama’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EDT. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Oklahoma Wesleyan University together with three other Christian universities in Oklahoma and a Christian college in Pennsylvania as part of consolidated lawsuits before the high court.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties. Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma, as well as Geneva College in Pennsylvania, specifically object to providing abortifacients.
“The reason for our lawsuit is simple and clear: Under the guise of Obamacare, the Obama administration claims it has the right to require Oklahoma … [Read more...]

By Alliance Defending Freedom staff
WASHINGTON – Several religious non-profit organizations filed an opening brief Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in consolidated lawsuits against the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate and its religious non-profit options, all of which force the groups to violate their faith. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a Christian college and four Christian universities that asked the high court to review appeals court decisions that upheld the mandate in Geneva College v. Burwell and Southern Nazarene University v. Burwell, two of seven cases that the Supreme Court agreed in November of last year to take up.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties. Geneva College in Pennsylvania and the four universities in Oklahoma – Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University – specifically object to providing abortifacients.
“The government has no legitimate basis for forcing faith-based … [Read more...]

By Liberty Institute staff
Bladensburg, Md. – On November 30 the United States District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial, built in the shape of a cross, is constitutional. Today, the American Humanist Association appealed the District Court’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The group alleges that the cross-shaped memorial violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The group demands that the monument be demolished, altered or removed.
Law firms Jones Day and Liberty Institute represent The American Legion, the largest veterans service organization in the country, which erected the monument 90 years ago in honor of 49 men of Prince George’s County, Md. who gave their lives during the First World War. The Legion is committed to defending the honor of the nation’s military veterans and the memorials that honor their service.
Noel Francisco, lead counsel for The American Legion and chair of Jones Day’s Government Regulation Practice, says, “This veterans memorial has stood in honor of the fallen for almost 100 years and should be allowed to stand for 100 years more. We stand ready to defend the memorial and the men it honors … [Read more...]

By Alliance Defending Freedom Staff
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a pharmacy and two pharmacists are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on Washington state rules that force pharmacy owners and pharmacists to stock and dispense drugs contrary to their religious beliefs instead of allowing them to refer customers to other pharmacies and pharmacists as they are allowed to do in all 49 other states. The state allows referrals for a variety of reasons but singles out religiously motivated referrals as prohibited.
In July of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a district court’s decision against the rules, which Planned Parenthood drafted at the behest of former Gov. Christine Gregoire. Gregoire publicly campaigned for the rules and replaced members of the state’s Pharmacy Commission after it initially voted unanimously in favor of such referrals. The American Pharmacists Association and the Washington Pharmacy Association also oppose the rules.
“No one should be forced to choose between their religious convictions and their family businesses and livelihoods, particularly when the state allows referrals for just about any other reason,” said ADF Senior Vice … [Read more...]

By Alliance Defending Freedom staff
DETROIT – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing several pro-life, pro-women’s organizations asked a federal court Wednesday to allow the groups to intervene in defense of a Catholic hospital system that the American Civil Liberties Union sued in October. The ACLU lawsuit is asking the court to force Trinity Health and its staff to commit abortions regardless of their religious and pro-life objections.
ADF attorneys represent Catholic Medical Association, Christian Medical and Dental Association, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Concerned Women for America, all of which could be affected by the lawsuit’s outcome. Trinity Health operates 86 facilities in 21 states.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith. … [Read more...]

By Alliance Defending Freedom staff
WHEATLAND, Wyo. – Platte County School District #1 has lifted its ban on non-disruptive, private prayer in its school cafeterias after receiving a letter from Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of three students that explained that such prayer is completely legal and constitutional.
“No student should be prevented from engaging in private prayer alone or quietly with other students on campus,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on this specifically. The First Amendment protects the right to pray in a non-disruptive manner not just in private but in public, too. The district has done the right thing in lifting its unconstitutional ban.”
On Oct. 15, a few students went to the back of the lunchroom at Glendo High School and formed a small circle while one student prayed for their meal. No teacher initiated, encouraged, or participated in the prayer, and the student only prayed in a way so that the other students in the circle could hear. The prayer did not create any disruptions or cause any problems in the noisy cafeteria.
After the lunch period, Principal Stanetta Twiford confronted one of the students and told her that the students were … [Read more...]

By Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty staff
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is once again creating controversy over religious liberty in its ongoing efforts to quash religious expression rights for cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Following reports that cadets initiated and led a voluntary prayer at two recent football games, MRFF sent a threatening letter to the Air Force Academy command to demand that it put an end to this exercise of First Amendment freedoms. Activist Mikey Weinstein, who writes under the name of MRFF, frequently sends such letters.
“Air Force cadets do not surrender their right to pray when they enter the Academy or the end zone,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “No evidence exists that these prayers are anything but voluntary. We sincerely hope that the Academy will stand firm and allow these cadets to pray according to their conscience, as the Constitution they are training to defend gives them the right to do.”
Cadets knelt in the end zone following a loss to New Mexico on Nov. 28. In his letter, Weinstein called what the cadets did “a putrid example of fundamentalist Christian supremacy, … [Read more...]

By Staff, Alliance Defending Freedom Communications
ORANGE, Texas – Alliance Defending Freedom issued a letter to the city manager of Orange and to an Orange County judge Wednesday to explain that, contrary to the arguments of an atheist group, the Constitution does not require the removal of a Christmas Nativity scene in front of city hall and the county courthouse without an accompanying atheist display.
“Government officials do not need to give in to the demands of atheist groups that misunderstand or misrepresent the First Amendment and how the courts have applied it to Christmas displays,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The courts have been clear that the government can erect Christmas displays, including Nativity scenes, without having to honor demands that atheist displays also be allowed on government property. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has already addressed this exact issue.”
The city of Orange has removed its Nativity display, and the county reportedly is considering doing the same, in the wake of the atheist group’s demand. As the ADF letter explains, “City officials simply misspoke when they stated that ‘there is not a clear case that gives affirmative direction to displaying the Nativity … [Read more...]

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner
WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) – President Obama's indifference to Christian persecution in the Middle East is part of a "scandal of enormous proportions," the editorial staff of theWashington Times has written in a scathing rebuke of the administration.
"Expressions of concern by the leaders of the West are few. The fact is that Christians face more persecution, in more countries, than any other religious group," the editorial said before launching into an attack on the president's human rights record with respect to Christian refugees from Syria.
Click here to read the rest of the article. … [Read more...]

By Staff
Alliance Defending Freedom Communications
PAINTSVILLE, Ky. – Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Dec. 15 to Johnson County Schools to encourage it to ignore a single complaint it received about biblical references in a student play based on the classic Charles Schulz television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
“Schools should not have to think twice about whether they can allow students to perform a classic Christmas production simply because it contains biblical references,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ has become an iconic Christmas story and tradition. Are school officials going to start demanding that other classic productions, such as Shakespearean plays, be censored just because they contain religious references?”
After receiving the lone complaint from a family at W.R. Castle Elementary School, the district announced its intent to censor all religious references from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and any other Christmas plays at the district’s schools. Parents, students, and cast members have expressed dismay over the decision.
“There is no violation of the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ by allowing children to learn about theater and the origins … [Read more...]

Search

Editorial

By Jerry Pipes
Just Imagine a church or business where there is:
A culture of encouragement
True communication — focused on adding value to others
A positive atmosphere and a spirit of adventure
Members or workers who are committed to understanding first, speaking second
Healthy conflict … Continue Reading.